Protecting Trade Secrets: What Non-Disclosure Means in Our Process

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Great Ideas Deserve Great Protection

The technologies in CRI-ONE’s portfolio didn’t appear overnight. They are the result of years of original research — breakthroughs in energy, materials science, health, communications, and manufacturing that exist nowhere else. When something is truly one-of-a-kind, protecting it isn’t just good business practice. It’s essential.

From the moment you move beyond the Proof of Function stage, you’re entering territory that involves trade secrets. The mathematical depositions and evaluation materials you receive contain proprietary information that represents some of the most ambitious scientific and engineering work being done today. Protecting that information isn’t optional — it’s what makes the entire process work.

Depositions and evaluation licenses require an executed mutual NDA before any material changes hands.

The Mutual NDA

Before you receive any deposition or evaluation material, both parties sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement. “Mutual” means it works both ways — we protect your confidential business information just as you protect ours. This creates a foundation of trust that allows us to share material of extraordinary value, and allows you to evaluate it without reservation.

What Non-Disclosure Requires

Under the NDA, you agree to:

Keep the material confidential. The reading material you receive is for your authorized team only. It doesn’t get shared with competitors, partners, or anyone outside the scope of your agreement.
Not duplicate the trade secrets. You can read and study the material, but you cannot copy, reproduce, or extract the methods and discoveries for use elsewhere. These are original works — they deserve to remain intact.
Not disclose the information publicly. Nothing you learn through the deposition or evaluation process can be published, presented, or discussed in any public forum.
Not produce or commercialize. The reading material does not grant production rights. You are purchasing reading material only — no intellectual property is transferred. Production rights come only through full acquisition.
Return or destroy materials if the process ends. If you decide not to proceed to full acquisition, the NDA specifies how materials are handled.

Why This Protects Everyone

Confidentiality isn’t just about protecting CRI-ONE. It protects you too. If you’re evaluating a technology that could give your company a generational advantage, the last thing you want is for a competitor to access the same information through a leak. The NDA ensures that the playing field stays level and that the material you’re evaluating retains its full, extraordinary value.

It also means that when you do move to full acquisition, you’re acquiring something pristine — trade secrets that haven’t been diluted by unauthorized disclosure. What you’re buying is intact, protected, and exclusively yours.

All sales are final. These are trade secrets, and once the material has been delivered under NDA, the transaction is complete.

Taking Confidentiality Seriously

We take our NDAs seriously because what’s behind them is worth protecting. The information in our depositions and evaluation materials represents genuine breakthroughs — the kind of work that doesn’t come along twice. Respecting the confidentiality of that information is what makes the entire staging process — and ultimately, the transfer of world-changing technology — possible.

Important Terms

Evaluation license fees credit toward the full acquisition price.
All sales are final — these are trade secrets.
Depositions and evaluation licenses sell reading material only — no intellectual property is transferred.
Evaluation licenses do NOT grant production rights, only reading and evaluation.
Depositions and evaluation licenses require an executed mutual NDA.
Governing law: State of Georgia, USA.

View the full acquisition process at cri-one.com/store/acquisition-steps.html

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